The 49th Annual Smoky Mountain Classic with its unlimited home runs and 80-foot base paths started with 34 teams on Friday morning in its usual double elimination format. 26 of the teams were from the Nationwide Conference USSSA league and the games were played at 4 different parks and 6 different fields with 5 of them being 290 to 310-foot fences and the show field – the famous Sandy Springs #3 being 305-331-355-334-313 according to Google Earth. The show field used the "bad batch" stadium balls that are not as good as a true stadium ball but better than the Classic M ball used on the non-show fields. The ball is always a topic of controversy each year as people who like home runs argue for its use and people who don't like them argue against.

The first-round action played out with all of the top 'AA' and Major teams winning their games except non-Conference 'B' team Cookies/Terry's/Worth/Miken from North Carolina shocked IN-AA team Worth/Astros 27-26 and then immediately following that game they knocked off TX-AA team Killbombers 16-15 over on field #4. Cookies punched their ticket to the "final 8" on Saturday and became the first non-conference team to do so since 2009 when a 'C' team called Major League from Georgia beat AJS and Suncoast to make it to the final 8 of the winner's bracket. For you softball history buffs, that 'C' team had veteran Derek Jones and current SIS/TDB outfielder Lee Payne.

The rest of the teams that punched their ticket to the prestigious Smoky Final 8 were surprise MO-AA team Nightmare/Miken who beat NC-A Bad Draw 17-16 on a walk off grand slam by pitcher Wes Newell and beat Major team Racks 17-16 both on the show field. #2 Seeded Resmondo beat local team Athletic Shop 33-3 and SC-A Pure Sports 35-19. Major team Newbreed got a scare from NC-B Worsham but won 34-30 and then advanced by beating Fence Brokers 25-18 over at the Denso field. In the bottom of the bracket MN-AA Xtreme hammered KY-A Cornerstone 34-16 on the short porch field #1 at Everett then outscored IL-AA OA Apparel 50-35 for the highest Friday score.

Every Saturday at the show field of the Smoky Mountain Classic it is one of the best old school pure softball shows a person can ever watch. The 8 teams that playing are usually the best in the country and they play the rest of the winner's bracket one game after the other starting at 9:15 AM and ending around midnight. This year it started a little different as the expected first game of Worth Astros vs Racks did not materialize with the upsets by Cookies and Nightmare. So, two teams that were not expected to be at this point in the bracket were playing to reach the final 4! Nightmare was in control most of the game with a 16-run top of the 3rd inning to give them a 22-4 lead as Cookies magic from Friday had worn off and their offense got going too late and Nightmare won easily 29-16. At one-point Nightmare actually "flip flopped" Cookies. In the second quarterfinal Resmondo and Newbreed went toe to toe. Resmondo led 7-5 in the first after an intentional walk to Bubba Mack led to a Mike Umschied grand slam and it was 28-19 Resmondo going into the bottom of the 4th. Then in the bottom of the 6th Resmondo led by 14 but couldn't force the run rule win with two outs. With a second lease on life Newbreed came in and scored 17 runs in the top of the 7th but got a runner thrown out over running 1st base. In the bottom of the 7th Resmondo drew close then Kevin Bazat had a clutch hit, BJ Fulk hit a gap shot, and leadoff man Bryson Baker hit a walk off homer to give Resmondo a 45-43 win! At high noon, the #1 team in the nation SIS/TDB went up 10-0 and then added 17 runs in the 3rd inning against Xtreme. Xtreme never gave up but SIS/TDB was too much and won 42-25. The final quarterfinal between Dan Smith and SIS/Thunder was played after a nasty thunder storm where the grounds crew did a great job in transforming a field that was underwater into a playable field in a matter of an hour. In that game SIS/Thunders offense reigned superior as they won 53-38 and leadoff man Jeremy Yates was 6-7 with 5 home runs.

Saturday night the semifinals got under way as a smaller but decent crowd started to build on the hillsides. Resmondo was too much for Nightmare in a 32-10 win with Greg Connell going 3-4 with 3 homers in the short game. In the second semifinal SIS/TDB (Kendricks team) got off to a 29-9 lead on SIS/Thunder after a 23-run top of the 2nd inning. SIS/Thunder came back with a 15-run bottom of the 2nd which was stopped short by a great running catch in left center field by Jason Branch and a nice play at 3rd base by Cory Briggs. Then in the 3rd inning SIS/TDB scored 13 more runs and held down SIS/Thunder again partially due in part to probably the best diving play of the tournament by shortstop Don Dedonatis in the 5-6 hole and throw and pick at 1st by Erik Kanaby. SIS/TDB went on to score what at the time was a tournament high 67 runs but really may have won the game with those couple of big defensive plays 67-43.

After that 67-run outburst SIS/TDB came out and put up 1 run in the top of the 1st inning against Resmondo in the winner's bracket finals. Fans in the stands started to feel like they were out of gas and Resmondo might stomp them especially being the home team. But Resmondo didn't have any big innings early on and SIS/TDB actually led 10-9 after 2 innings. Then Andrew Collins for SIS/TDB in right field made a nice running/sliding catch to end the 4th inning with Resmondo in the lead 14-13. But in the top of the 5th SIS/TDB had a second wind and scored 23 runs before the first out was made and the inning was capped by a Brandon Dillon grand slam and a 37-14 lead. Resmondo would not score in the bottom of the 5th and SIS/TDB advanced to the championship undefeated. Ryan Harveys first 7 at bats were home runs in that game which tied the all-time record for homers in a game and he did have an 8th at bat but made an out.

In the loser's bracket, a couple of teams made nice runs like Primetime, Baugh Ford, TDB/TMSports, Worth Astros, and The Scene/HDLNS. But only the top part of that bracket would break through the big teams that dropped down from the winner's bracket and that was TDB/TMSports who beat Steel, OA Apparel, Newbreed, and Baugh Ford to finish 5th. SIS/Thunder then halted the TDB/TMSports run late Saturday night to make it to Sunday. And Nightmare run ruled Xtreme 42-19 after Xtreme had taken down Dan Smith.

So, Sunday morning the final 4 started at 8 AM amidst some fog and overcast skies. Nightmare got off to a 7-1 lead in the first and grabbed a 9-8 lead in the top of 3rd on a Zane Trammell homer against SIS/Thunder. But Thunder was up 12-10 after 3 innings and outscored Nightmare 20-9 the rest of the way to win 32-19. In the loser's bracket finals Resmondo grabbed a 25-0 lead on an 18 run 2nd inning and cruised past a lifeless SIS/Thunder team 42-5 to advance to the finals.

That set up the heavyweight battle for the championship on a cooler than normal Smoky afternoon as the sun came out and the temperatures started to rise. Coming into the game the home run title was between Resmondos Bryson Baker who had 20 and SIS/TDB's Ryan Harvey who had 18. Smash It Sports/TDB again lost the coin toss and put up 10 runs in the top of the 1st inning but Resmondo answered with 25 runs of their own. SIS/TDB answered that with a 21-run top of the 3rd and it was 35-35 going into the bottom of the 3rd. The general feeling of the game was whoever had the hammer was in good shape but SIS/TDB's Cory Briggs hit a big grand slam in the top of the 4th to give them a 42-41 lead and after each team put up another 20+ runs Resmondo went into the 7th with a 64-57 lead! In the 7th needing 7 runs to keep the game going SIS/TDB got a 3 run homer from Brandon Dillon to take the lead 66-64, a Nic Santana grand slam to make it 70-64, and a Luis Reyna grand slam to make it 78-64! SIS/TDB batted around again after that and led 86-64 going into the bottom of the 7th. They had scored 29 RUNS! In the bottom of the inning Resmondo could only muster 8 runs and SIS/TDB won the game and the Smoky Mountain Classic by an all-time record score of 86-72. Resmondo out homered SIS/TDB 38-35 but had lost the game. Resmondos Bryson Baker hit 7 homers in the game and won the home run title with 27. But the win as visitors in their last 3 games for SIS/TDB was an impressive testament to the will to win of this team that now has a 49-5 record on the year with 7 tournament wins. They have won 3 tournaments and 16 consecutive games in a row, are locking up the Conference points standings, number 1 seed for the Major World Series, and everything that comes with that.

The weather was great, the field crews and directors kept things flowing, there was a large contingent of the top conference umpires who did a near perfect job, and the ball at times was a flying!

Here are the score sheets of the record setting game which was the championship game.

Smash It Sports 86 and Resmondo 72

Smash It had 35 homers and Resmondo 38

Benches cleared for some chirping after the 29 run SIS top of the 7th.

The offense speaks for itself. They batted around as many as 3 times in an inning. The team feeds of off each others energy and they take the game from their opponent rather then let the other team dictate the outcome. At times they won with defense, other times offense, other times pitching. But when one area of the game faltered (like the defense in the 1st inning of the championship) then another area of the game picked them up. A true championship run. Purcell was playing with a bad rib (not an obleak problem like originally thought) but he seemed to get better as the tournament progressed. Briggs might have the most range of any 3B in the game. Dedonatis and Reyna are so good up the middle and how about Dennis Rulli at age 50 having a .917 onbase percentage and only hitting 4 homers? That is an impressive thing to do on 80 foot bases with the infielders playing so deep. Harvey was money in the big games and won the MVP. Just a true team effort and domination in the greatest tournament regular season tournament. One thing most people probably don't realize is this is one of the fastest teams around also and their speed on the bases is just more pressure for the defenses.

Andy Purcell wasn't 100% but seemed to get better as the tournament progressed

Brandon Dillon and Andrew Collins

Dennis Rullis son Easton can pick it and hit it

Luis Reyna and Ryan Harvey

Cory Briggs and Erik Kanaby

Nic Santana celebrates a 7th inning grand slam!

Santana also won the HR Derby Thursday night over Kyle Pearson.

Don Dedonatis was 3 for 3 in the 7th inning of the championship game

2nd Place Resmondo/O.A.Apparel/H.Auto/RDD/SPTank/Easton

Conf Major from FL 5-2 Record

Resmondo is still trying to figure it out against SIS/TDB. The offense scored 72 and lost which is the worry many had coming into the season… Pearson wasn't showing many ill effects of his pulled muscle. Fulk seemed to be playing hurt some. The infield shuffled around but overall without singleing out anyone specific, the defense is more of a 'AA' caliber. Really the whole defense. The offense on this team has to somehow mentally ignore the poor defense and overcome it. They can't let a bad performance in the field (which is going to happen with this team every game) affect their at bats. They have to think outscore the other team every inning of every game. Easier said than done I know but thats what this team has to do.

Umschied homers against Newbreed after some stall antics. Buddy Wolf mashes a hit.

Was this Scott Kirby's last at bat at the Smoky? He may retire. If it was, it was a homer!

3rd Place SIS/Thunder/Miken/Worth/Louisville

Conf Major from NY 5-2 Record

Not the finish that SIS/Thunder wanted at all. Brian Logan who was injured at the Border Battle was out and Stovall was moved to CF. Mcbryde ended up at first with an injured elbow and Kennington played Middle. Consistency against the big teams offensively is what is needed and they have a chance to improve that in Cincy, Columbus, and the Conference Championships before the big show in September! Josh Riley replaced Tyler Driskell at 3rd base. Tyler is taking some time off. Filby didn't play much (injured wrist).

Kennington had a couple of those smash homers that actually look like they gain speed halfway out!

Former Worth Astros 3rd Baseman is now with SIS/Thunder

4th Place Nightmare/Miken

Conf 'AA' from MO 4-2 Record

Nightmare isn't known for their power and was an unlikely candidate to finish on Sunday at the Smoky. But they used a soft spot in the bracket that they helped create by beating Racks and then validated their good weekend with that late Saturday win over Xtreme by the run rule. It seemed like most of the players on the team got hot with the stick at times and the defense and pitching was solid. But those big one run wins on Friday set this team up for a huge points day and they now have 1000 points which should lock them into the Major!

Zane and Jason were the pair hit by lightning in Kissimmee, Florida a year and a half ago.

Dunn was hitting backside bombs and triples and ran over 20 miles during the games

Some viewers thought Charlie Hinojosa hit the longest bombs

Tied 5th Place TDB/TMSports/MidWestWhiteTailAdv/Miken

Conf 'AA' from NC 5-2 Record

TDB/TMSports made a big run through the loser's bracket and continued to build off of their good run at the last tournaement in Chicago. This team has been a work in progress but is coming together at the right time and with a few more wins at upcoming tournaments should push into the top 16 and make the Major. That is quite a lineup when you think about it.

Baugh Ford continues to play well and is now all the way up to 9th in points. The bracket fell right for them but they took advantage of it and beat some solid teams. Allen Ponder playing some middle infield was fun to watch and the guy can flat out mash (think Shannon Smith). Folsom has been hot all year. Adding Tennyson was probably the final piece to the puzzle. 'A' Worlds is going to be a 6 or 7 team race when you think about Baugh, Steel, Bay Area Legends, Bad Draw, Pure Sports, and AllOut. And other teams like Seminoles playing better of late.

Trending up!

3B Chad Folsom, LF Adam Tennyson

The leagues biggest middle infielder Allen Ponder

Tied 7th Place – Dan Smith/Menosse

Conf 'M' from CA 3-2 Record

CF Brian Zirkle makes a play by the fence

Dan Smith beat Classic Glass on a walkoff then struggled in the loser's bracket. They added John Williams from OA Apparel to play third base as they continue to tweak on the roster and lineup. Another team that can play a darkhorse role in the coming months.